There's a wuss in my mirror

I've made some stupid and imprudent trips in my life,  by land, sea, and air. Once in a while minor drama occurred, but nothing threw me or mine into a serious "survival" situation. Propose a journey and my default answer is, "Let's go."

Maybe some parts in my middle are shrinking.

The best the weather guessers can do for me tomorrow is big wind, maybe a little snow and a high of four below.  So I'm reluctant to load up the dog and the check book for the 80-mile run down to Humboldt, meaning I'll miss what could be the gun auction of the decade for any blue-steel tinker.



"The following guns have a little to a lot of rust and deterioration, most will need work or be for parts:

"Ruger Single 6 revolver, .22 * Remington 48, 12 ga. * Winchester 42, .410 * Browning light 20, 20 ga. * Savage 99, .284 * Remington 1100, 16 ga. * Stevens 94C, .410 * Remington Viper 522, .22 * Marlin 49DL, .22 * Ruger 1022, .22 * Browning BPS, 12ga. * Winchester 12, 12ga. * High Standard Sport King, 12 ga. * Mossberg 20, 20 ga. * Winchester 59, 12 ga. * Christoph Funk O/U, 16 ga. * Remington 1100, 12 ga. * Winchester 77, .22 * Christoph Funk, 28 ga. * Remington 700, 6mm * Winchester 12, 12 ga * Winchester 59, 12ga. * Marlin 39A, .22 * Remington 121, .22 * Remington 550, .22 * Winchester 69A, .22 * Remington 31, 16 ga. * Remington 552, .22 * Ithaca 37, 12 ga. * Smith + Wesson 1000, 20 ga. * Winchester 42, .410 * Remington 550, .22 * Wards Westernfield 560, 12 ga. * Winchester 1400, 16 ga. * Mossberg 540, .22 * Smith and Wesson 1000, 12 ga. * Winchester 12, 12ga. * Winchester 77, .22 * Winchester 69, .22 * Marlin 25, .22 * Squires Bingham 16, .22 * Ruger 1022, .22 * Remington 31, 12ga. * Ithaca 37, 20ga. * Ithaca 37, 12 ga.. * Remington 1100, 12 ga. * Remington 1148, 12ga. * Remington 1100, 20ga. * Ruger 77, .306 * Marlin 60, .22 * Winchester 12, 16 ga. * Winchester 12, 12ga. * Ruger 1022, .22 * Winchester 55, .22 * Winchester 67, .22 * Winchester 12, 16ga. * Ithaca 37, 16 ga. * Winchester 12, 20 ga. * Marlin 783, .22MWR * Winchester 12, 12 ga. * Winchester 77, .22 * Ithaca 37, 12 ga. * Marlin 883, .22 * Winchester 12, 20 ga. * Savage 24, .410 * Remington 582, .22 * Remington 742, 30-06 * JC Higgins 25, 22LR * Remington 514 .22 * Remington 4, .22 * Stevens 77D, 16 ga. * Marlin 883, .22mag * Remington 03, 30-06 * Ithaca 37, 20 ga. * Stevens 67, 12 ga. * Browning BPS, 12 ga. * Remington 878, 12 ga. * Winchester 12, 16ga. * Winchester 25, 12 ga. * Winchester 59, 12 ga. * Savage 357, 12 ga. * Newport WN, 16 ga. * Mossberg 46, .22 * Mossberg 342A, .22 * Stevens 94, .410 * Winchester 77, .22 * Remington 514, .22 * Mossberg 44, .22 * LC Smith 12 ga. * German 22, .22 * Mauser 98, .22 * Mossberg 152, .22 * Mossberg 64KA, .22 mag * Iver Johnson, 410 * "

Sure, a lot of crap not worth an hour of fixing time, but get a load of the Winchester 69s and 77s, the old Rugers, the 1950s Mossies. Given the weather -- and the general decline of gunners willing to dirty their hands at a work bench --  you would expect a light crowd and probably dirt-cheap prices.

In the non-junk listing lurk a couple of Garands, some Mausers ,and a "1936" Luger.

If you guys really loved me you would organize a fleet of St. Bernards with brandy flasks and station one every few miles along the way.

You would also provide me a house sitter. The life-support systems in the  Commandant's Quarter's here at Camp Jiggleview require a certain amount of babysitting when global warming becomes this severe.


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ETA: I'd really like to inspect that "deteriorated" 6mm Remington 700. I badly want a 700 short action for the new take-off .222 barrel gathering dust in the shack.

Government finance in New Hamster

In  A.D. 2008,  "the hockey coach at the University of New Hampshire earned $382,000, making him the highest paid state employee."

Whack Puck or Die.

Singing to the dog

A man with a shelf of books and a curious mind is never bored. Except maybe sometimes, rarely, he might be something like bored.

I blame it on the re-vortexing of the polarity.  Zero, below zero, big wind, very big wind for the impending week.

SAD? No, I don't accept SAD except as an excuse for the drug companies to sell more happy pills.

Cabin fever? No. The vehicles are running fine. The lane  is clear enough. There's cash in the wallet and places where I would find a welcome.

No interest, So I'll just go ahead and use the dork word. Enervated. I may be enervated.

Possibly New Dog Libby is too. She always comes around for a comprehensive  ear-scratch every hour or so. Lately it's more like every ten minutes, and I actually caught her staring out at our stray cat without emitting her death-threat growl between 70-decibel barks.

Just now she waddled over to the computer chair, stuck her head firmly on my lap, and made intense eye contact. You either understand that lab-eyes look or you don't. I do, so I made a special fuss. The ears, of course, then back and belly, then a collar check while I wiped off that tiny dab of eye drool.

She's put on some winter bulk. I decided the strap could use a little more slack.

Fumble with the adjusting slide. Drop your hands in disgust because  you just heard yourself going,

"bah-dah bamba just a silly millimeter longer."

At least that led to enervation attenuation because it yielded a  Big Thought, a Universal Truth:  Exposure to television at a young age makes you weird forever. 

Loophole AAR

I don't get to this one often enough, especially considering it is my natal city, a couple of hours southeast. But it was time. I had my buddy's balls* in a can, and he wanted them. The show his club runs was a good excuse to make the delivery.

I didn't run across anything making me giddy enough to toss large denomination Federal Reserve Cartoons around, but it is tasteless to leave a loophole empty-handed, ergo:

For $25 it justifies itself as a high-class paperweight, and who knows when I'll stumble across a box of parts for five bucks at a garage sale.They would need to fit a High-Standard Model A or B from 1934, the year A. HItler flew to Essen for a gigglefest as he watched his former friends bleed out. And speaking of long knives:

Boy Scout, official, USA-made but otherwise unmarked so I can pretend it's a Marble. The condition isn't too bad, but Tenderfoot Teddy couldn't resist using his sharp edge to trim up the sheath. What a creep, but at least his old man didn't  own a three-horsepower Baldor running a 60-grit wheel at 3450 rpms.

This Remington RH 51 came from a Baldor-equipped home in a sheath style I've never seen before, stamped "Remington" and "DuPont." That dates it to 1933 or later and probably pre-1941.

I don't actually get upset at battered knives if they're cheap enough. The patinae, gouges, and grinds just loosen their metaphorical tongues so they can tell me how things were back then, or might have been.

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*soft lead, .504